School District: Tahoma
School Location: Ravensdale
Began participating in the Green Schools Program: February 2008

Level One of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in March 2010
Level Two of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in May 2010
Level Three of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in May 2011
2014-2015 Sustaining Green School: Achieved in May 2015
2015-2016 Sustaining Green School: Achieved in May 2016

Sustaining green school – 2015-2016

• Tahoma Junior High sustained its Level One waste reduction and recycling practices, Level Two energy conservation practices, and Level Three water conservation strategies.
• The school continued to participate in the People, Power, Planet Program to increase energy conservation.
• As part of the People, Power, Planet program, the school earned 84 percent power points by conducting classroom energy audits, creating educational posters and displaying quotes about energy conservation, and collecting 564 energy conservation pledges from students.
• The Green Team started recycling ink cartridges through TerraCycle, which uses difficult-to-recycle items to make new products.
• The school created a video about what happens to ink cartridges when they are empty and how long they take to decompose. The video, which was shared on the People, Power, Planet website, encouraged all schools in Tahoma School District to recycle ink cartridges and toner.
• Tahoma Junior High School’s Green Team also collected dried out markers and sent them to Crayola ColorCycle program which uses them to make new markers.

Sustaining green school – 2014-2015

• Tahoma Junior High School sustained its Level One waste reduction and recycling practices, Level Two energy conservation practices, and Level Three water conservation strategies.
• The school participated in McKinstry’s People, Power, Planet Program during the 2014-15 school year. They made announcements about energy conservation, posted an energy usage checklist in each classroom and office, and created a Green Team bulletin board to display energy savings.
• The school reduced energy by 5 percent. All energy reduction successes were shared in classroom announcements and in staff and parent newsletters.

Waste reduction and recycling (level one)

• Tahoma Junior High maintained a recycling rate of 50 percent.
• To achieve this rate, the school improved classroom recycling, initiated lunchroom can, bottle, and milk carton recycling and began to recycle compostable trays, food scraps and food-soiled paper.
• To change school culture and attitudes about recycling, the student Green Team planned and held Earth Week events each year since 2008. Events have included a poster contest, garbage sorting games, and a raffle for Earth friendly T-shirts. To enter the raffle, students pledged to recycle as much as possible. These pledges were posted in the school entrance.
• To promote recycling and composting, students created a video that was shown in all school classrooms.
• Each fall, staff were educated about waste reduction and recycling with a recycling presentation.
• As the lunchroom program got started, staff and parent volunteers helped the student body properly sort garbage and recyclable materials.
• Recycling containers were added to the lunchroom for milk cartons, juice boxes, plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Stickers listing what can and can’t be recycled were placed on recycling containers throughout the school.
• In 2010-2011 the Green Team implemented a “Waste Free” lunch once a month. They created two different videos to promote the event.
• Students were encouraged to use reusable lunch boxes, containers and water bottles by being given a ticket on Waste Free Lunch days if they were “caught” using these items. The ticket was an entry into a drawing for a reusable water bottle.
• Green Team students introduced a “food table” in the lunch room to encourage students to leave unopened packaged foods for others to eat, rather than throwing them away. They created an informational video to teach the school about this project.
• Green Team students collaborated with drama students to create a video on proper disposal of recyclables, garbage and food waste.
• Students collected bottle caps for bottle cap art projects and foil juice pouches to send to the TerraCycle program, which recycles difficult-to-recycle items.
• The winning logo design from a school-wide recycling competition was printed on tee-shirts that students and staff could purchase.
• School principal Rob Morrow encouraged his staff to practice conservation through staff meeting presentations on conservation topics and reminders about conservation.

Energy conservation (level two)

• Tahoma Junior High tracked its energy use and costs through a district-provided consultant.
• All staff members were asked to restrict the use of personal heaters, refrigerators and other appliances in offices and classrooms.
• Incandescent bulbs were replaced by Energy Star-rated fluorescent bulbs throughout the school.
• Signs were posted on light switches to encourage staff and students to turn off lights in unoccupied spaces
• Students studied energy use choices in science class and weighed the pros and cons of various energy sources.
• A group of four Green Team students conducted a monthly energy audit of each classroom and educated staff on ways to reduce energy use.
• Green Team students shared energy conservation facts during weekly announcements to encourage staff and students to conserve energy.
• Students shared educational PowerPoints at lunch and during Earth Week in April, and they promoted and encouraged participation in Earth Hour in March.

Water conservation (level three)

• Facts about water conservation were read each month over the intercom.
• In 2013, the school installed water bottle refilling stations to reduce waste and conserve water.
• To change school culture and attitudes about water conservation issues, the student Green Team planned and held Earth Week events in April, with one day devoted to water conservation. Students signed a pledge to select three ways they would conserve water at home, and participated in games to answer questions about ways to conserve water.
• Students in Washington State History learned about the importance of water as a resource through their unit “Sounding off on the Puget Sound.” The curriculum included a field trip to Seattle Aquarium.
• In 2010, students in Washington State History helped plant two rain gardens in the front of the school to help collect and filter stormwater runoff.
• Classes visited the rain garden to learn about water conservation methods from the garden’s educational signs and lectures about how the garden works.
• In ninth-grade science class, students completed an in-depth study of the Cedar River Watershed, including two field trips to the Cedar River to examine water quality by sampling macro-invertebrates and studying water chemistry.
• Tahoma Junior High tracked its water use and costs through a district-provided consultant.
• All staff members were asked to conserve water in their classrooms and to report any leaks to maintenance.
• Eighth-grade science students designed a biosphere that must support three to four people. Design considerations included the needs of people, plants and animals and the impacts of each on the environment.
• The student Green Team club planned a 2010 Earth Week event that included the topics of energy, water, classroom and lunchroom recycling, and composting.

For more information about the school’s conservation achievements and participation in the Green Schools Program, contact:

Courtney Shoe, teacher
cshoe@tahomasd.us

Rhonda Ham, principal
rham@tahomasd.us